Gender and Technology
Considers a wide range of issues related to the contemporary and historical use of technology, the development of new technologies, and the cultural representation of technology, including the role women have played in the development of technology and the effect of technological change on the roles of women and ideas of gender. Discusses the social implications of technology and its understanding and deployment in different cultural contexts. Investigates the relationships between technology and identity categories, such as gender, race, class, and sexuality. Examines how technology offers possibilities for new social relations and how to evaluate them.
Spring 2013
This course considers a wide range of issues related to the contemporary and historical use of technology, the development of new technologies, and the cultural representation of technology, including the role women have played in the development of technology and the effect of technological change on the roles of women and ideas of gender. It discusses the social implications of technology and its understanding and deployment in different cultural contexts. It investigates the relationships between technology and identity categories, such as gender, race, class, and sexuality, and examines how technology offers possibilities for new social relations and how to evaluate them.
Readings
- Barber, Elizabeth Wayland. “Preface”, “Introduction”, and “A Tradition With a Reason.” In Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times . Norton, 1994, pp. 11–41.
- Haraway, Donna. “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century.” In Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature . Free Association Books, 1991, pp. 149–81. ISBN: 9781853431388.
- Parens, Erik. “Thinking About Surgically Shaping Children.” In Surgically Shaping Children: Technology, Ethics, and the Pursuit of Normality . Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008, pp. 23–30. ISBN: 9780801890901.
- Turkle, Sherry. “Tinysex and Gender Trouble.” In Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet . Simon & Schuster, 1997, pp. 210–32. ISBN: 9780684833484.
- Bañales, Victoria. ““The Face Value of Dreams”: Gender, Race, Class, and the Politics of Cosmetic Surgery.” Beyond the Frame: Women of Color and Visual Representation . Edited by Neferti X. M. Tadiar and Angela Y. Davis. Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, pp. 131–52. ISBN: 9781403965332.
- Layne, Linda. “Introduction.” In Feminist Technology . Edited by Linda Layne, Sharra Vostral, & Kate Boyer. University of Illinois Press, 2010, pp. 1–35. ISBN: 9780252077203.
- Johnson, Deborah. “Sorting out the Question of Feminist Technology.” In Feminist Technology . Edited by Linda Layne, Sharra Vostral, & Kate Boyer. University of Illinois Press, 2010, pp. 36–54. ISBN: 9780252077203.
- Vostral, Sharra L. “Tampons.” In Feminist Technology . Edited by Linda Layne, Sharra Vostral, & Kate Boyer. University of Illinois Press, 2010, pp. 136–53. ISBN: 9780252077203.
- Boyer, Kate, and Maia Boswell-Penc. “Breast Pumps.” In Feminist Technology . Edited by Linda Layne, Sharra Vostral, & Kate Boyer. University of Illinois Press, 2010, pp. 119–35. ISBN: 9780252077203.
- Woodward, Kathleen. “From Virtual Cyborgs to Biological Time Bombs.” In Cybersexualities . Edited by Wolmark. Edinburg University Press, 1999.
- Appleton, Fernandez, Hill, and Quiroz. “Gender and Indigenous Knowledge.” In The Postcolonial Science and Technology Studies Reader. Edited by Sandra Harding. Duke University Press Books, 2011. ISBN: 9780822349570.
- Shapshay, Sandra, ed. “Lifting the Genetic Veil of Ignorance: Is There Anything Really Unjust About Gattacan Society?” In Bioethics at the Movies . Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009, pp. 87–101. ISBN: 9780801890789.
- Matrix, Sidney Eve. “GATTACA, Gender and Genoism.” In Cyberpop: Digital Lifestyles and Commodity Culture . Routledge, pp. 85–102. ISBN: 9780415649018.
- Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic Press, 2010. ISBN: 9788184771695.
- SES #: 10 · TOPICS: Alone Together · READINGS: Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together : Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other . Basic Books, 2012. ISBN: 9780465031467.
- Enloe, Cynthia. Excerpt from Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women’s Lives . University of California Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780520220713.
- Silver, David, and Alice Marwick, eds. “Internet Studies in Times of Terror.” In Critical Cyberculture Studies . New York University Press, 2006, pp. 47–54. ISBN: 9780814740248.
- Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together : Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other . Basic Books, 2012. ISBN: 9780465031467.
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: None U (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Spring 2013
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.